Angry Outburst In Court After Dad Is Convicted In Attack On Mom

MARIETTA, GA -- An Ohio man who pleaded guilty to trying to kill his former girlfriend in front of their child is going to prison for three decades, but he didn’t go quietly. Joseph Tarik Davis, now 38, angrily shouted at the woman as deputies took him out of the courtroom after Thursday’s sentencing hearing.

The couple had a tumultuous relationship that culminated on Feb. 12, 2015, when he broke into her Kennesaw apartment while she was at work and hid in the closet. When the woman returned home after work with the couple’s five-year-old son, Davis lurched out of the closet and strangled her until she passed out.

When she came to, she saw her son running out of the apartment and she tried to run after him. Davis tackled her in the bushes outside and stabbed her at least seven times in the face and neck. He was telling her he was going to kill her, so she played dead until he stopped.

Kennesaw Police found a bloody knife on the floor of the victim’s apartment, but neither Davis nor the boy could be found.

DeKalb County Police located Davis and the child early the next morning and took Davis into custody. The child had no physical injuries, and in a forensic interview described how his dad had stabbed his mom, even drawing a picture of the knife.

During the sentencing hearing on Thursday, the woman told the court that her son continues to have nightmares about the attack. The scars from her stab wounds were still visible.

Davis pleaded guilty in 2017 to aggravated assault, aggravated battery, cruelty to children in the first degree, and other charges in this case, but sentencing was postponed while he underwent a psychiatric evaluation.

On Thursday, Cobb Superior Court Judge Robert Leonard sentenced Davis to 40 years, with 30 years to serve in prison and the rest on probation.

Kennesaw Police led the investigation in this case and were assisted by Cobb County, Marietta, and DeKalb County Police as well as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

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